Tar Sands Mine Approved in Utah; Will Provide Frac Sand

Steve Horn reports today that tar sands extraction is both closer than we think — it’s not just up in Canada, it’s happening right here in the U.S. — and more directly linked to fracking than ever. A five-year deal to provide 49,980 tons of oil sands material will enable the company to profit from selling frac sand to the “high-volume market” for sand used in high-volume hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported this week that climate catastrophe appears to be more likely than previously thought: “World Bank Warns of 4-degree threshold.” Please read both pieces, renew yourself over Thanksgiving, and then do like Mother Jones said: don’t mourn, organize.

Second US Tar Sands Mine, Owned by Former ExxonMobil and Chevron Exec., Approved in Utah

MCW Enterprises Ltd., a Canada-based corporation, announced on Nov. 19 that it has received all necessary permits to streamline tar sands extraction at its Asphalt Ridge plant located in Vernal, Utah starting in December.

The announcement comes just weeks after U.S. Oil Sands Company received the first ever green light to extract tar sands south in the United States.

MCW’s website explains that its stake in the Asphalt Ridge is a “proven/probable resource of over 50+ million barrels of oil” and that it “is seeking other oil sands leases in Utah, which contains over 32 billion barrels of oil within 8 major deposits.”

Bailey told Flahrety Financial News that he sees this first project as a crucible, or testing grounds, with the potential for more extraction to come down the road.

“This is really going to be a technology play,” he stated. “I don’t plan to build another Exxon out there in the desert.”

“The recent rapid expansion of shale gas and shale oil drilling…has greatly increased the need for fracking sand in this region,” TME wrote on it website. “Asphalt Ridge is well-positioned to serve this high-volume market—both in terms of geographic location and in terms of sand quality.”

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